March 21, 2025, 12:09 p.m. | Reading time: 8 minutes
2024 was a record year for tourism for some countries in Europe. Popular destinations such as Spain and Greece, among others, recorded more holidaymakers than ever before. Portugal also attracted more holidaymakers than ever before. Sunnytrips met the Portuguese State Secretary for Tourism, Pedro Machado, and the President of Portugal Tourism, Carlos Abade, for an interview. The conversation discussed, among other things, the challenges, the risk of overtourism and personal insider tips.
Sunnytrips: 2024 was a record year for tourism in Portugal. In total they recorded 31.6 million guests and 27.6 billion euros in revenue. In 2025 they want to grow by another 9 percent. What does the balance look like after the first few months? Pedro Machado: "As you already said, we grew very strongly last year. And the figures for January and February are very promising so far." Carlos Abade: "We are still at the beginning of the year, so it is still a little difficult to quantify the exact growth rate. But one thing is already certain: this year will be even better than the last."
You are currently developing the so-called “Tourism Strategy 2035”. What's behind it?Pedro Machado: "First of all, we want to increase the added value in tourism - both in terms of demand and supply in Portugal. We are particularly interested in strengthening the regions outside of Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve and Madeira, such as the Alentejo, the center of Portugal, the north or the Azores. Another important point is sustainability. We would like to develop new products here, such as wine tourism."Carlos Abade: "Our goal is to be sustainable "To achieve a positive effect for the local community. To achieve this, we need to better distribute the flow of tourists in the country during the high season and make better use of the low season. These new products, which Pedro Machado just spoke about, also include literary trips. Many of them are located outside the big cities."
»We have to manage the country better overall
But there are certainly some challenges.Carlos Abade: "One of the most important is the relationship between tourism and the local population. Here we have a clear and overarching goal: to improve people's quality of life. But to achieve this, we have to manage the country better as a whole."
How exactly?Carlos Abade: "We need to focus even more on technology and digitalization in order to better understand tourist flows and then act accordingly. How can we connect resources? How can we recognize whether a region is overloaded and manage it better accordingly? We want to develop a form of tourism that benefits everyone: the visitors to Portugal, to whom we obviously have to offer added value so that they keep coming; the people who work in tourism and whom we have to train; and the local communities."
Portugal wants to attract even more tourists to the country. Is there a cap on the number of visitors to avoid problems such as overtourism? Carlos Abade: "We have not defined a hard cap because it depends on various factors, such as infrastructure. If this is better and we use resources more intelligently, understand tourist flows better, then we can adjust our capacities accordingly. So it is difficult to say at the moment what the maximum cap is."
“We don’t suffer from mass tourism”
But this can also lead to overloading in some regions...Pedro Machado: "Fortunately, we in Portugal currently do not have the same problems as Barcelona or the Balearic Islands. The country is small, but the average occupancy in some regions over the year is only around 50 percent. There are months with higher pressure, but not to the same extent as elsewhere. We do not suffer from mass tourism. Of course there are local challenges and problem areas, but Portugal is not perceived as an overcrowded destination."
Not yet...Carlos Abade: "Our main focus is not primarily on the number of holidaymakers, but on the income that flows to Portugal. But of course we also need tourists, which is why we are investing heavily in markets such as Germany, Switzerland and Austria. At the same time, we are diversifying our target markets and opening offices in Mexico, Australia and South Korea in order to make the mix of tourists more diverse."
Faro was recently named the healthiest city in Europe. What do you say? Carlos Abade: "Portugal is very diverse. We have a good climate, water, sea and a strong community. It is characterized by a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Anyone who spends time in Portugal feels this difference compared to other countries. This is a unique asset that sets us apart from other destinations."
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Tourism in Portugal: »The north in particular has grown significantly
An important goal, as you already mentioned, is to attract tourists to other regions away from the hotspots. Where are you currently seeing a lot of growth? Carlos Abade: "If you look back over the past seven years, the north of Portugal in particular has grown significantly. Not only Porto, but also the other regions. The center of the country has also recorded a significant increase in the number of visitors." Pedro Machado: "Especially after the pandemic, people - both foreign visitors and the Portuguese themselves - want space, nature, silence and security. And they find that in regions such as central Portugal, in Alentejo, in the north. Even in summer, travelers are no longer just looking for seaside beaches – many are discovering river beaches or remote natural areas in the mountains, such as the Peneda-Gerês National Park in the north.”
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A new airport is to be built in Lisbon and will be operational in 2035. As you probably know, we have become cautious in Germany. Can the Portuguese do it?Carlos Abade: "We have to build it first. In the meantime, we are modernizing the existing airport in order to use it more efficiently, for example through larger aircraft and higher utilization. We must not forget that Portugal has several airports. We are working intensively with the airports in Porto, Faro, Ponta Delgada, Funchal and of course Lisbon. The number of passengers in Lisbon has increased compared to the previous year, there was one in January 2024 alone Growth of 4 percent. This shows that growth is possible. The challenge lies primarily in the management of time slots and slots.”
The new airport is expected to be able to handle more than 100 million passengers by 2050. That would make it one of the largest in the world.Carlos Abade: "The important thing is that we are investing in the future now. But we are not just relying on flights, but also on expanding rail transport. Improved rail infrastructure is crucial for mobility within the country in order to direct tourism to the inland regions."
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There will also be a high-speed line to Madrid. The plan has already existed since 2021. Carlos Abade: "The biggest challenge was certainly making a decision - this has now been made. Implementation will take time, but the project is crucial to better connect Portugal with the rest of Europe, not only Lisbon with Madrid, but also Porto."
The United Kingdom was Portugal's most important market last year. Where do you still see growth potential in Europe? Pedro Machado: “First of all, we want to continue to strengthen our activities in the United Kingdom. Of course, we are also concentrating on Germany because it is the second most important market for us. France is also still very relevant, as is Spain. The Polish market is also growing very strongly. It is experiencing similarly strong growth as the USA.”
Portugal has been experiencing a real boom there for several years. Pedro Machado: “We want to continue to grow here. In 2024, US vacationers represented the largest proportion of tourists in Lisbon.”
“So we assume that the German market will continue to grow”
The Trump administration always has a few surprises in store. Could tourism to Portugal also be negatively affected? Carlos Abade: “We do not expect a decline, on the contrary: we are assuming further growth. We currently have several direct flights that connect the USA with all Portuguese airports. The number should increase even further. We are also investing in further advertising measures in the USA.”
Germany is currently in an economic crisis. This may also have an impact on trips to Portugal.Carlos Abade: "We hope not. At the moment it looks as if 2025 will be significantly better than 2024. If you look at the numbers in January, there was an increase of around 8 percent compared to the previous year. And 2024 already recorded an increase compared to 2023. So we assume that the German market will continue to grow."
We are of course also interested in what insider tips you have for Portugal?Carlos Abade: "There is a very special place in Portugal called Lagos do Sabor. It is a large lake in the north of the country. Many Portuguese people don't know about it. It is a very beautiful place, a real insider tip."Pedro Machado:"I think the beach of Loriga in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park is a very extraordinary place that many people will say: Wow, that is breathtaking."
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